Along an assembly line, diapers and various types of other disposable absorbent articles may be assembled by adding components to and otherwise modifying advancing, continuous webs of material. Webs of material and component parts used to manufacture diapers may include: backsheets, topsheets, absorbent cores, front and/or back ears, fastener components, and various types of elastic webs and components such as leg elastics, barrier leg cuff elastics, and waist elastics. In some processes, graphics are printed on individual components and/or continuous webs of material used to assemble the absorbent articles.
Some consumers may prefer purchasing absorbent articles, such as diapers, having a number of different graphic designs printed thereon and provided in a single package. Further, some consumers may prefer purchasing diapers having graphics printed thereon with relatively high print resolutions. Various methods and apparatuses can be used to print different graphics on an advancing web of material used in the manufacture of absorbent articles. However, such methods and apparatuses may provide for limited numbers of different printed graphics, graphics with relatively low quality print, and/or require relatively low print and/or manufacture speeds. In addition, such methods and apparatuses may also require relatively expensive processes and equipment and may not be very flexible in allowing a user to change the type of graphics to be printed.
Thus, in some circumstances it may be desirable to utilize ink jet or some other type of non-contact printing to print graphics, because of the relatively high degree of flexibility and relative ease to change the graphics that are being printed. However, the relatively slow speeds associated with such non-contact printing techniques may create challenges in printing graphics with relatively high print resolutions, particularly when such non-contact printing techniques are incorporated into absorbent article assembly processes operating at relatively high speed production rates. Consequently, there remains a demand to use non-contact printing techniques in diaper manufacturing processes to print graphics having relatively high print resolutions that maintain desired aesthetic benefits on assembled diapers without sacrificing relatively high manufacturing speeds.